I tightened the dark overcoat around my neck and walked over to Eloise. My boots stepped in red puddles.
"What a mess…."
I reached her. The feeble light from an oil map illuminated the mask that she always wore and her stained blond hair.
On the ground were two cold corpses. The blood on the floor was becoming darker and darker. I looked at the face of one of the dead men, it had long lost any emotion, and his eyes looked empty.
A nauseous feeling came from my gut. I repeated in my head that everything was fine even though guilt was devouring my insides. The only reason that we killed these two people was that they wore a guard uniform.
I stopped looking at the dead and stood by one of the windows. I would deal with these feelings when everything was over. I tried putting on the same grin I had when I left the house.
A voice that seemed even colder than the wind reached me.
"It seems that young master isn't used to this type of work. Here. Take this."
My companion, whose face I couldn't read, was holding in her hand a handkerchief. I gazed into her eyes and took it.
I used it to wipe the blood stains from my hands and sword, but I still felt dirty.
I approached one of the four windows and looked outside. From my point of view, I could see the entire prison complex. A tall stone wall encircled two buildings and a big yard. We were standing on one of the four towers that guarded the only two gates.
The sound of waves hitting the shore covered the sound of our breathing. The prison was located beside the port. I lifted my eyes and looked at the dark blue sea with longing. But what I smelled wasn't the sea breeze but the iron from the splattered blood around us.
I turned around and faced Eloise.
"They should almost be done."
"Yes, young master, this was the last tower we had to clear, so we just need to wait …."
A bright light shone from the port as she finished talking, and then a loud boom reached our ears. One of the warehouses exploded, and all of the buildings near it lit on fire.
"It seems that Zurkx and Erika have done a good job."
The large bell on the lighthouse at the harbor entrance started ringing, and some of the men on guard duty got on their horses and left through the gate without noticing us.
----- Erika Pov ------
Young master sure did give me a challenging job. I would have already returned and stabbed him with my dagger if he wasn't handsome.
I was running while keeping my eyes on the target
"Keep up, goblin!"
"Kuh! You long-legged human freak!"
Our cover had been blown by the clumsy thing sprinting behind me.
Our task sounded simple. We had to infiltrate the Angelico company's alcohol manufacturing warehouse and blow it up to create a distraction. But as anyone could imagine, while we were sneaking around, we got caught by a guard. I wasn't quick enough, and he managed to scream and alert everyone before I could stop him.
"We have arrived. Quick enter!"
We reached the door of the facility. I strengthened my arm with mana and swung it at the door. It had no chance of resisting, and it exploded into wooden pieces.
"Zurkx, you set up the black powder, and then when you are done, you need to escape by jumping in the water and hiding under a boat's hull."
"I will guard the door. When you have ignited the fuse, you need to alert me, ok?"
"Ke ke, Of course, don't worry. I am good with explosive stuff."
As I saw the goblin disappear into the warehouse, the first team of enemies reached me.
"What are you doing here? Why did you kill John!"
From their posture and thanks to my experience, I could determine that none of them was an intermediate professional. The guard that kept screaming at me should be their leader.
"If you don't drop the dagger, we will use force!"
A smirk formed on my face. They were too naïve. I had already killed one of them, but they were still debating if they needed to use force. It had probably been a long time since they faced a situation like this. After all, the country we were in was at peace.
I made a lot of my mana flow into my legs and used a special magic skill that only an assassin could use shadow steps.
"Where is she? Dammit, she is an assassin run and alert the…!"
It was too late. My knife was already embedded in his neck. I used my empty left hand to push myself away from his body. A spurt of red blood escaped his throat when I removed my dagger.
He tried to stop the blood flow, but the laceration was too large, and he fell to his knees. Meanwhile, I spun around and delivered a strengthened kick to the man standing to his left. A loud crunch came from his body, and I didn't even look to see that he was dead.
The last guard was running away, but I threw my knife with a lot of force. It embedded itself in the back of his head. He collapsed to the floor.
I recovered my knife and heard a shout
"All done!"
It was Zurkx. Good, I turned around and ran. But as I was about to enter, a whistling noise reached my ears, I tried to dodge it, but it was already too late. An arrow hit me. It penetrated the light leather armor and embedded itself in my shoulder.
Its power threw me to the ground. It was an intermediate archer, dammit! It HURTS!
Despite the suffering, I got up and continued running inside. A second arrow embedded itself deep in the floor as I crossed the entrance. I barely managed to save myself, but I still had to continue since the goblin's shout signaled that the fuse had already been lit.
While sprinting, I cut a piece of my pants with my dagger and bandaged my wound without removing the arrow to prevent aggravating the bleeding.
I reached the open backdoor. Good Zurkx made it. I took off the overcoat I wore over my leather armor and threw it outside.
Another whistling noise hit the cloth that I had just tossed. I knew it!
I immediately sprinted out of the door toward the nearby water. I realized it was too far, but I had no choice. I gritted my teeth and ran.
I heard it coming, but since we had similar strengths, I had no chance of evading it. I only managed to shift my body slightly. A stinging pain came from my back, but the force contained in the arrow launched my light body into the sea.
I was barely conscious at that point. I realized that I was sinking into the depths of the waters, but I had no strength left.
Two faces came up in my mind. No, it wasn't my cursed parents who abandoned me at my orphanage; they were Monique and that young master. It seems that I won't be able to see them again.
A bright flash illuminated the waters. It seems that our task was still completed in the end.
Finally, as my eyes closed, a green hand grabbed me by my long floating hair. That goblin didn't know any manners …
----- Otto Pov -----
Strength filled my body like when I was younger.
"Tsk, it feels really good."
That brat had gifted me some good stuff, even though my last few coins were used to buy it…
An old brown overcoat covered my figure, and my old trusty blade rested on my hip.
In front of me stood a large gate made of some sort of metal. At its sides stood two realistic wolf statues. It was the home of the lord of this town.
"It's huge, even more than a manor. It should be called a castle with those tall walls."
"HEY! You, what are you doing here!"
A man was standing on top of a small guard post on top of the wall.
"HA HA, nothing much. I have come to greet the owner of this place."
"It's the lord's manor. He doesn't receive any guests at this hour, so please leave!"
"There's no need to shout. I don't need help; I can open the door myself."
I approached the gate while gathering my mana in my long blade. Many people in their entire lives would never have the chance to know what sort of power swordmaster held.
What differentiated an intermediate professional from an advanced was the ability to discharge mana from his body. But a master could do something even more spectacular. He could slightly bend the rules governed by the element he had the most affinity with.
[Hear my plea, Sun goddess Iofiel, bless my sword with the ability to penetrate and destroy every enemy in front of me]
As I removed my sword from the sheath, it started to shine until the metal began melting.
A sigh escaped my lips.
"It seems that this is the end of our journey together. Thanks for helping me in so many battles."
In the end, only a solid scorching gold mass of mana that resembled a sword remained in my hand.
The guard standing on guard had been screaming enemy for a while.
As I was about to attack, a light illuminated my back.
"BOOM!"
The sound of an explosion made it to my ears. A laugh escaped my lips
"HAHA, even that ugly goblin can be helpful sometimes. "
I swung my glowing blade, and everything descended again into silence.
A long red line formed in the door and sliced through everything until it reached halfway into the castle, where it stopped. Everything it touched started melting and catching fire despite being made of stone.
A shout of anger reached my ears from the manor.
"WHO DARES !"
Someone broke through a roof and stood in the hair. He was an old man, older even than me. He looked in his 80s.
"SOMEONE ATTACKED MY RESIDENCE! SOLDIERS, THIS LORD ORDERS YOU TO KILL ANY INTRUDER!"
The man floating on top of the castle was Borge von Hjorth, a northerner who emigrated to the Woflen empire and obtained a territory thanks to his achievements during wartime. He slaughtered entire towns to force an army stationed in a castle to face him on the open grounds.
He was a ruthless man, and he seemed not to be weak since the intelligence that Monique gave us about his strength was wrong. From the pressure he released, I could discern that he wasn't an advanced wind mage but a Wind Master.
"Tsk, it's going to be a real pain in the ass."
Since my young master wasn't around, I could be vulgar as I was back in my days as a mercenary.
Borge wasn't a dumb man. He wasn't attacking first. He was gaining time for his troops to gather and launch an attack together, and I couldn't allow that.
I stepped hard on the ground and blasted into the sky.
A wall of wind composed of multiple layers instantly appeared around him. While I was slicing through the wind spell, he started chanting.
"A Flame Swordmaster, AHAHAHA, you choose the wrong opponent!!"
I couldn't reach him in time, and a fist made of air launched me to the ground.
Fighting a Wind master in the sky, what a great matchup. Dammit…
I lifted myself from the ground while wiping the blood off my lips. A series of wind blades reached me. I managed to deflect them, but I wasn't in good condition.
I was standing in a crater. A lot of buildings that made up the castle had already been destroyed. From the corner of my eye, I could already see troops gathering while transporting some large cannons.
A smirk formed on my face. It had been a long time since I faced a real death threat.
While I evaded continuously, I gathered more than a third of my mana in my legs and sword. It was true that the only master professionals that could fly were wind masters, but I had a trick up in my sleeves.
I had seen this move only once, and I had never done it, but I needed to stall the head of this town for a while.
I again jumped into the sky toward Borg. He looked at me with a confused gaze, but soon enough, he started grinning.
Pff, it seems someone had been far away from the battlefield for too long. The sedentary life had made him rusty.
The city lord completed a large-scale spell, and a tornado started forming at the center of our battlefield. I immediately stepped on the hair that ignited under my feet and evaded his spell.
I stomped again, but I felt pain in my leg this time. I was finally able to enter within striking distance.
He panicked a bit but quickly regained his wits and activated a protecting artifact around his neck. I should have known that even if they are scarce, he could own one of those.
A light blinded my eyes, and I was again blasted to the ground lifting a big cloud of smoke.
When I regained my eyesight, my body had a couple of more wounds. I looked at my opponent and immediately noticed that I had managed to injure him.
A severed arm was on the ground in front of me. Finally, I could level the playing ground a bit, but I saw a cannon ball heading my way from the corner of my eye.
The army had already assembled, and it surrounded our playing ground.
I deflected the cannonball with my hot blade and then sent a flaming slash toward my left, where some cannons were set up.
Borge partially blocked my attack. Only ten soldiers died, and only one piece of artillery out of 20 was destroyed.
"HEY! Intruder fight like a true knight."
The annoying town lord that wouldn't just be defeated in a simple attack was now berating me, great. I turned my attention toward him and resumed our fight while sometimes a couple of advanced professionals and cannonballs would try to take my life.
A thought passed through my head during the battle
[I hope that everything is going well on your side, brat…]
----- Adrien mc Pov -----
I pulled out my sword from the back of a man. The blade made a scraping noise while being drawn out of the pierced armor.
"This should be the last one."
We were in the middle of an office. The guard I had just killed was the protector of the fat trembling man under the wooden desk.
"Eloise, drag him out."
"Okay"
The building we were in had no windows. It was one of the two only buildings inside the prison complex.
A couple of oil lamps illuminated the dark interior. My companion yanked the man we captured out of his hiding place.
"Please! Spare me! I don't have any grudge against you. Why are you doing this ?!"
A punch flew from Eloise to his face, making him shut up immediately.
A thought crossed my mind: why are all the women I have encountered until now so scary?
"I am sure you know where a couple of deserters of the Woflen's navy are held, right Adam."
Adam was the current head of the prison guards, but as anyone could guess, his position wasn't earned by his own efforts. But it was given to him thanks to his friendship with the grandson of the current town lord.
"YES, yes I do. I can guide you to them."
He immediately got up on his feet and started rummaging in his shirt, but quickly a saber was brought to his neck.
A cold voice froze his actions
"What are you doing."
"I … I am …."
He pulled out a bundle of keys while trembling.
She immediately snatched it and threw it at me
I caught it and said
"Thanks. Now, would you guide us to their location?"
"Yes, sir!"
He immediately started walking to the door while Eloise held her saber to his back to ensure that he wouldn't try to do anything against us.
The poor man was so scared that he even moved the body of the men that tried to protect him out of the way to let us pass.
I looked at the blood stains on the ground and followed them while muttering.
"My apologies, but if to acquire enough power requires a bit of bloodshed, I am willing to stain my hands…."